Sunday, 29 May 2011

And that's it. No more education. You could say I'm currently in a state of denial but I'm determined to continue making work and keeping within touching (or grabbing) distance of the art world.

There is talk of a graduate group being formed in order to keep momentum going and getting some group shows organised. I was even contacted by an Italian curator/critic who has expressed an interest in showing my work. Potentially exciting stuff. Art indeed goes on.

Monday, 23 May 2011

Although figurative in form, the focus of the works are not only on the body, but also its relationship with landscape and abstraction. This creates an interesting tension as the concept of institutionalising the body is considered. The style even becomes slightly surreal where amalgamations are produced in newer pieces as limbs merge together and create new images. Areas of flesh are interrupted with regimented abstract geometric shapes applied over the loose and intuitively applied paint underneath. So the works do not become just pretty things, expressing the physicality of the body through paint with an instinctive way of working whilst still maintaining control is essential.

Previous works looked at ambiguous forms exploring the traditional theme of the body, but in order to update the works, the methodology had to be destroyed to push the boundaries. It became obvious that it had to be looked at in a new way for me to keep the works contemporary. Rather than relying singularly on the photograph as source material, the images are put together after a process of selection and cropping of photographs of my own body, before adding geometric shapes where they fit aesthetically, or can create a new area of interest. The angles, faceted shapes, and negative spaces are all autonomously rendered and each reinstate structure and reinforce ambiguity within the flesh, creating a balance between vague and blatant imagery. Girders support the construction of hands, platforms are created on the exterior anatomy and networks are suggested underneath layers of skin. This progression was influenced in-part by the loose estimated geometrical descriptions of space in the paintings of Mil Ceulemans' and by Caragh Thuring's dissembled hard industrial structures, which give a heightened awareness of the flatness of the picture plane. This flatness is also visible in my works, those without any negative space almost replicate the aesthetics of aerial photographs whilst the zoomed-in concentration on certain areas of skin reflect fetishistic qualities also found in the work of Johannes Kahrs.

The neutral all-square format reflects that the work is neither a traditional figurative piece, nor a landscape. The colours of the palette relate to that of a murky watercolour and reflect the sensory feel of the body, with additions of urban concrete greys and sulphur yellows. The washed out, sterility and neutrality of the blue hues within many of the works suggests the idea of a skyline and offer a unity to the pieces. Contradictions of distance, lighting and size favour the style of the pieces and do not aim to detract from the forms portrayed, but enforce them. All works are oils on wood and the materiality of the paint ranges from luscious, exaggerated, almost peel away layers (that respond to Richard Diebenkorn's Ocean Park series), to barely-there layers, thinned with turpentine. There are disciplined moves made where paint is applied, which create both subtle areas of interest and vast placid areas. Techniques include both controlled and uncontrolled drips, impasto paint applied with a palette knife, scrubbed blended areas, smooth loose marks with round brushes and angled regimented marks made with square brushes. The removal of paint is just as important as its addition, be it scraping against the wood to create a vibrating buzz, or pressing away to leave ghostly remains. In some of the pieces there is the final addition of definitive graphite lines that act as aesthetic barriers on the skin's surface, re-instating the idea of combining figurative and architectural concepts.

Friday, 13 May 2011

This week has seen removals and reorganising as the studios are being transformed into magical 'white' gallery spaces in preparation for the degree show. (Private view: 6pm, 10th June! http://www.ucreative.ac.uk/degreeshows/campus)

I have been lucky in securing a place in the Herbert Read Gallery and all curatorial discussions have now been finalised (We hope). On with the wall painting/hanging.

Here's a little preview:

Below are some images of my work that were recently on display in the boardroom at UCA, shown opposite this fine chap's work http://jackissutherland.blogspot.com/(spot some works above). As the chosen ones we were selected to put a few works up to distract the board of governors whilst they doodle/discuss themselves to death.

In other news - despite my fear of losing all intelligent thoughts from the shallow depths of my cranium, I managed to get 70% - a First, for my dissertation. Unexpected pat on back.